


A Common Interest

by liar_iago



Series: Seasons [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 16:29:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2435447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liar_iago/pseuds/liar_iago
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama's heart still has a lot of room to grow, but he's willing to believe he'll get there when the time comes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Common Interest

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the final installment of the "Seasons" series!! wow i'm so grateful for everyone who's been reading and commenting and leaving kudos I love you all!! a shoutout once again to cairah and anika for being my favorite cheerleaders you two are my inspiration <3 <3 
> 
> Enjoy!

Kageyema doesn’t see himself as a jealous person. 

When Hinata says “I like Tsukishima,” Kageyama replies with “Okay,” because he _is_ okay with it. 

Hinata is the type of person who is simply so full of love that Kageyama knew the moment they started their relationship that he would not be Hinata’s only interest, even if he was his first. 

But when he watches them talk, something akin to irritation (he can’t seem to determine the right word for it) tugs at the edge of his nerves. At first, he tries to brush it off. So maybe he’s a _little_ jealous--what of it? He’s only human. Besides, Hinata has no intention of dating Tsukishima, convinced that the other has no feelings for him. 

Yet that ugly, grating feeling only grows. He watches as Hinata bounds over to Tsukishima’s desk to invite him to lunch (sometimes he accepts, sometimes he declines), showers him with praises on the court (he nods and thanks him, returns his high fives), tells him funny stories (he _laughs,_ and it’s not that stupid smug laugh but a quiet, genuine one that he always tries to hide behind his hand--)

It pisses Kageyama off. 

He doesn’t want to ask Hinata to stop because he promised that he wouldn’t; but also because Hinata has no obligation to listen to him anyway. Hinata cannot be controlled, nor should he be, and anyone who tries to hold him down will only get burned. Kageyama is no exception. 

Still, it’s during a Sunday afternoon while they’re hanging out in Kageyama’s room that Kageyama begins with, “Hey, Hinata.” 

Hinata looks up from the sports magazine he’s been reading. 

“About Tsukishima…” Kageyama hesitates, unsure of what exactly he wants to say. He doesn’t have the right to say anything in the first place. 

Hinata blinks. “Yeah…?” 

“Uh...ugh,” says Kageyama. Clever. 

“Ah,” says Hinata, catching on easily enough. “Are you jealous?” He grins, the cheeky bastard. 

Hearing it aloud makes it ten times more real, and Kageyama scowls so deeply his face hurts. “I guess.” 

“Whoa, really?” 

“Why is that so surprising?” snaps Kageyama. 

“No, well...It’s just kind of flattering,” says Hinata, and he has the gall to blush. 

“Focus,” says Kageyama, trying to keep himself from blushing as well. 

“Do you want me to lay off?” 

“No,” says Kageyama quickly, trying to keep this conversation out of dangerous territory. 

Hinata smiles. “Well, I wasn’t going to anyway.” 

“Yeah, figured.” Kageyama shrugs.

“Hey…” Hinata puts his arms around Kageyama, burying his face in his shoulder. He’s small, but the warmth he radiates makes Kageyama feel like he’s standing in front of a fireplace. The sun shines fiercely through the glass of the closed window, making the heat in the room almost unbearable, but he can’t help but return the embrace. 

“I like Tsukishima, but that doesn’t make me like you any less,” says Hinata. “You remember that, right?” 

“Of course,” says Kageyama, and he means it because he knew this even before Hinata did. 

He knows he looks stupid now for making a big deal out of nothing. Yet for some reason, after Hinata leaves that night and the blazing afternoon sun gives way to the cool evening breeze, he doesn’t feel any better. 

-:-

It’s just his luck that he and Tsukishima are the first ones at practice the next day. 

“Feeling all right there, Your Highness?” says Tsukishima. 

Kageyama forcibly smooths his frown out. “Fine, thanks,” he grinds out. 

“You look pretty worn out.” 

Kageyama snaps his head up, a sharp retort ready on the tip of his tongue, but he stops short when his eyes meet Tsukishima’s. 

His expression is one of genuine concern.

“I-I’m all right,” stutters Kageyama, resisting the urge to avert his gaze like a shy schoolgirl. “Just tired.” 

Tsukishima gives him a crooked smile, and Kageyama swears he feels his blood pressure go straight through the roof. 

_Good god._

“Toss to me?” says Tsukishima. While he’s still mainly a middle blocker, Tsukishima has been spiking more since the third years left, and Kageyama has been steadily figuring out the toss patterns he prefers. 

“Sure,” says Kageyama much too enthusiastically, but instead of commenting on it, Tsukishima just takes his position and waits for Kageyama to begin. 

_I should be really irritated with this guy,_ Kageyama thinks to himself as he makes his first toss. 

While Hinata’s jumps are still second to none, Tsukishima’s are nothing to sneeze at either, given his considerable height. His spikes aren’t as explosive as Hinata’s or Tanaka’s but his form is neat and tight with no unnecessary movements, and the contact his palm makes with the ball produces a short, precise sound. 

It’s beautiful, really. 

Without missing a beat, Kageyama sends another toss his way. Tsukishima executes the next spike in the same manner, nodding slightly in approval when the ball smashes against the far corner of the opponent’s side. 

Kageyama wants to praise him, but the mood is different when the rest of the team isn’t there, and he finds it too awkward. As he quietly prepares the third toss, Hinata bursts into the gym and shatters the odd, amiable silence they had been sharing. 

“Hey, no fair! You can’t start practice without me!” 

“Ugh,” says Kageyama before he can stop himself, and Tsukishima gives him a surprised look. 

“Whoa, it’s weird to see you here early, Tsukishima,” says Hinata, making a beeline for him. 

Tsukishima turns to Hinata and they begin talking and just like that, Kageyama’s sour mood comes back full force.

“Hey,” he says, but neither of them seems to hear him. The frustration bubbles in his gut, and in a bizarre and fleeting moment of clarity, he realises that he isn’t jealous of Tsukishima--this was never about jealousy in the first place. 

Kageyama doesn’t want to be left out. 

“I feel sick,” he declares. I feel pathetic.

Both Tsukishima and Hinata turn towards him. 

“What’s wrong?” says Hinata, putting a hand on his forehead. 

“My stomach hurts. I’m going home.” 

“I’ll walk you back,” offers Hinata. 

“No!” 

Hinata steps back, eyes wide, and Kageyama wants to kick himself. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he says gently, putting a hand on Hinata’s shoulder. “Stay here and practice. I’ll be fine.” 

Hinata puts a hand over his and nods. “I’ll come see you after practice?” 

Kageyama kisses him on the forehead. “Yeah. Thanks.” 

He thinks hard on the way home, trying to organise his thoughts around this new revelation, but he doesn’t know how to feel about Tsukishima. 

Their personalities were a bad match since the start. Kageyama is not afraid to admit that he’s always had a short temper, and everyone knows that Tsukishima loves targeting people like him. It’s always “Your Highness” this and “King” that.  
But Tsukishima was different today, quiet and focused, and well--maybe he’s been a bit different for a while now from the person he was in their first year, all talk and no game. 

He’s still about seventy percent snark, but it’s not that same cold, biting sarcasm that was always putting people off. These days when Tsukishima makes a remark, it draws laughter and playful retorts from the team instead of glares. The atmosphere surrounding Tsukishima has changed completely since last year, and Kageyama has seen the way Hinata simply melts when they’re together. 

Kageyama trusts Tsukishima. He trusts him to continue to be someone that Hinata can admire and hold dear in a different way from how he loves Kageyama, and he wants to be there to watch the both of them learn to adore each other. 

(And maybe in time, when Kageyama’s heart has grown a little bigger, he can come to adore Tsukishima in his own way as well.)

He’s not particularly tired by the time he gets home, but he’s out like a light as soon as his head hits the pillow. When he wakes up, it’s to the sound of the doorbell ringing. 

“Are you okay?” asks Hinata as soon as Kageyama opens the door. The poor boy looks absolutely frazzled, wringing his hands and looking up at Kageyama like he’s expecting him to drop dead any minute. 

Kageyama huffs out a laugh and pulls Hinata into a hug, burying his face in his hair. 

“You stink.” 

“I came straight here from practice because I was worried, you jerk,” Hinata mumbles into Kageyama’s shirt. 

“I’m sorry,” says Kageyama, holding him tight. “I’m okay now.” 

He brings Hinata upstairs and lets him shower (Hinata always has spare clothes at Kageyama’s place) before they settle down in his bedroom and Hinata goes over what they did at practice. 

Kageyama likes to make notes about drills and such after every practice, and he does so now as he listens to Hinata’s report, pausing every once in a while when Hinata starts drifting off course.

“So at one point Noya-san sets the ball right into Tanaka-san’s face and Tanaka-san falls flat on his backside, but the ball actually bounces off Tanaka-san’s face and goes straight over the net! So then they try to count that as a point because the other side was too busy laughing to receive it, but they won’t let up, and that’s when Ennoshita-san makes Tanaka-san and Noya-san do fifteen laps around the gym,” says Hinata, laughing like he’s never seen something so utterly hilarious in his life, and Kageyama finds himself laughing with him. 

It takes them a while to calm down, but when they do Hinata’s smile becomes apprehensive.

“Kageyama, you are okay, right? You know you can always talk to me about anything. I mean, you’re always listening to me, and...” Hinata’s expression is sincere, and what he doesn’t manage to finish in words Kageyama can read in his eyes.

_I’m here for you too._

Kageyama wants to sweep Hinata up in his arms and hug him fiercely, wants to wrap himself around Hinata and bury himself in his warmth, he loves him so much. 

“Well, there is one thing,” he says instead, putting a hand on his chin. “The next time you hang out with Tsukishima, let me come along too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone!


End file.
